RO/DI water storage
 

Have an easy question about water storage. I use 5 gallon jugs to hold water for my 24g, 55g salts and 100g freshwater tanks for daily evap adding. I recently set up my RO/DI system to fill into a 5g bucket that has a float valve system set up so it shuts off automatically. My question is how long can I leave the RO water in the bucket with lid on (so it is completely light free in there) without needing to start adding it to tanks before it is no good?

I am not sure what the right answer is, but i leave my RODI in its container (Brute can with lid) for weeks and do not have any problems.... that is my experience however, not necessarily the right answer!

Forever. RO/DI can sit in a container as long as it has a lid on it. Airtight would be better but not necessary at all.

Awesome, thanks for the help. I have a lid w/ gasket so airtight is not a problem. Much appreciated

The issue I see with your set-up is it sounds like you keep your water on all the time with a shut-off valve to prevent a flood. Is this correct?

The first 10-15 seconds of water produced from the RO filter should be wasted as built up particulates on the filter get flushed out of the filter when the water is initially turned on.

This is my water set up.
It is connected to rodi via float valve!
Has been set up for over a year still 0 tds out of storage tank.
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/a...d/71ef51e3.jpg

If you've got a set-up like Boboli you can tend to get away with leaving the water on all the time and it being controlled with a float switch.

Judging from the photo he probably uses a significant amount of water at a time between refills, leaving the dirty water that comes from the filter restarting being the proverbial drop in the bucket.

In a 5 gallon set-up the concentrated TDS of the first 10-15 sec. would be higher than in a 60g storage tank, especially if your using the 5g bucket in an auto-top off situation where small amounts of water are being taken out of the bucket everyday and it only takes 10-15 seconds of water to refill the top off reservoir. The TDS in said top-off reservoir would slowly increase with each daily on-off cycle.

I don't mind letting 15 secs of water run through before filling. I have a shutoff valve before the RO/DI unit so that I can flush warm water out of the lines before it hits the system (my water supply comes from a spicket on the side of the house and then into the garage so the water in the lines can get a bit warm before it hits the RO/DI). I also have a shut off valve attached to the line going into the bucket so that I can not worry about more water pouring in as I pour from the bucket to my 5g storage containers. And of course there is the float in the bucket so that I don't have to worry about the water overflowing if I forget or want to do it while I am out and about.

So basically flush the system for 10 - 15 seconds before I start filling the bucket and I am good right?

Thanks for the advice

I would put a circulation pump in there but that is my own opinion.

i have a 55 gal bin like in pics above, i keep it full but i do have a pump circulating it all times.

I do use an airstone to keep the water moving and aerated

Yes, flush for 10-15 sec, and an airstone in the bucket will be fine for water movment.